Agartala: An assault on an Indian transport officer in Dhaka has delayed the launch of a bus route between Agartala and Kolkata through Bangladesh.
The bus service was scheduled for launch on October 14, but was delayed for two days after an officer of the Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) in Dhaka, Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey told reporters.
Some unidentified persons attacked TRTC Liaison Officer LJ Rokhum when he went to the Bangladesh capital on October 12 to collect the road permit from that country for a bus to ply between Agartala and Kolkata through Dhaka, assamtribune.com reported.
“The criminals also snatched the road permit from Rokhum which he had obtained from the Bangladesh Government,” TRTC Managing Director Keshab Kar told reporters.
The assaulted officer had immediately spoken to the State Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmick, who took up the matter with the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
Rokhum, however, managed to collect another set of permit and returned to Agartala, capital of Tripura, Kar said.
Dey said India’s External Affairs ministry was also informed of the incident and requested to take up the matter with Bangladesh to ensure the safety and security of the passengers of the bus when it would pass through that country.
TRTC had purchased a 45-seater Volvo bus at a cost of around 9.1 million rupees for plying between Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka, he added.
The Kolkata-Dhaka bus service was jointly flagged off by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina on June 19, 1999 and the Agartala-Dhaka bus service launched in September 2003.
On June 6 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Dhaka visit, Hasina and he had jointly flagged off the Dhaka-Shillong -Guwahati and Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus services.